Topic: ⚽ UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany ⚽ - Qualifiers - page 258. (Read 46401 times)

Yes, unfortunately the golden generation is gone now. While they had it in them they should have been successful. But back then there were serious personal problems among the players. It was like there wasn't anyone who didn't have any problem with another player.    I remember De Bruyne - Courtois quarrel lasting for long years and I don't know if they are still the same against each other.

Lukaku is trying his best for the national team recently. But Belgium need to play strong as a team in the main tournament. I don't feel like they will be able to win the Euro title this year as a result.

What you say is very true, in fact in the World Cup in Qatar I saw 2 contrasts in two different teams, that of Belgium and that of Spain, in Belgium there were pure veterans, they are obviously better because they have a lot of quality, and in Spain I saw quite the opposite, I saw many very young players, although it was like watching Barcelona because there were many players who were from there, then what I realized is that that does not work, what does work is the balance, the best thing about the youngest and the best of the most veterans, for me that is the ideal team, I think the direction of the coaches also influences, it is better to know how to use these players than to leave them there as a sole option, because on the one hand, the veterans They have a lot of experience, they know what to do under pressure, but they don't have the highest speed, well except for CR7 who actually breaks this scheme along with Messi, but they are very particular cases.

In the case of Belgium, they have to have a good balance and know how to take advantage of their players, for example I have never seen Hazard shine more, and he is a player who excels, he has good dribbling, in fact many of my dribbles are inspired in it because he plays in a very elegant way and I like that, but the veterans get very tired, or they endure a 90-minute match at full speed, while the young men are bullets, they run, they will arrive quickly but they have no experience and That affects them in their performance, because they get desperate quickly, they don't know what to do, how to defend, how to attack without scoring goals, but they don't have good scoring options, and how to make a great counterattack, they play low. the complete direction of a car, but they either dare to give a little more, because for them it is going against the coach's demands, and a coach can either clip a player's wings, that is why Lus Enrique did not take to the Madrid players, and that was a case of being a disappointment from the World Cup.

Yes Belgium top players are getting older but i think they still have some fuel in the tank and also they still top stars, puls we can see some new rising stars, one thing i always notice is not always your best or golden generation brings you the trophie to home, but in somecases the next and not so brightfull one wins the tournament.

Belgium's golden generation has begun to age, aka it's finished. from Lukaku, Kevin Debruine. even many have retired too, such as Radja Nainggolan Vincent Company. and the Belgian coach who brought Belgium to be respected has also resigned after the Roberto Martinez World Cup, who is now the Portugal coach. so it is very difficult for Belgium to become a euro champion.

The opening match for the Euro will be played on June 14 2024 and the match between Germany vs Scotland will be the first match for this year Euro event,  If you look at Germany status as host, of course Germany  first match will be an easy match, especially now that Germany has good squad depth in euro, Germany is quite lucky to be in group A considering that no one is stronger than them and of course Germany has a very big chance of advancing to the next round.

Talking about Ronaldo, it's clear that maybe the Euro 2024 will be Ronaldo last chance to play in the national team because he is getting older, but to be honest, I'm quite confident that Ronaldo can bring Portugal to win the Euros because currently Portugal squad all contains very experienced players in the previous World Cup and Euro, while a team like Belgium probably won't be able to compete to reach the quarter-finals, because so far it doesn't look like their squad is too promising to be able to compete in  Euro 2024, I personally tend to see  if Portugal will be able to reach the  final to compete for the championship trophy with France or Germany later.

Yes, there are only a few weeks left for the promotion semi-finals to start.    By the way I think that the last 3 teams to join the main tournament will be Poland, Ukraine and Greece but let's see.

Unfortunately Ronaldo isn't close to his old times when it comes to skill moves, yes. I watched a video clip of him recently in which he was quite bad at doing one-on-one.    But it is normal of course as he has got very old. He can still play as target forward and finish the attacks with goals with deadly final touches indeed.

England have been unlucky but actually they really have a huge potential with that powerful squad. About Belgium I don't see the same old team. They could have actually won a Euro title with a golden generation.

Ronaldo is still mainstay for Portugal, even though at his current age he may have experienced decrease in speed in dribbling the ball, but he is still goal machine, the player with the best goal execution that Portugal has.
Some parties still believe that Portugal will be able to win the Euro 2024 title and Ronaldo will be the player who can win the top scorer title, all of which is still possible to happen in this year competition.
We are all about more than 3 months away from starting the competition for the winning matches from each group but this will feel very short, the competition will take place from 14 June to 14 July.

Ronaldo will remain the star in this competition, even Ronaldo presence could enable Portugal to become the strongest candidate for the title, just as they were the winners in Group J during qualifying.

Agree with you that Belgium, France and Portugal will be the 3 possible team in the race for the title but there is still the possibility of something unexpected happening, hopefully everything can go as we hope.

I thought the Cup will be start in very soon, but actually it will start in the next three weeks lol.

Ronaldo will try anything to win the Euro Cup since he wasn't able to win World Cup, he might be lost his speed and dribble skills, but he's still able to score a goal.

I only think France, Belgium and Portugal can become a champion because England is always unlucky and Spain is no longer Spain that we were know.

I'm waking up the thread after a long break.  

Ronaldo is 39 years old now and still playing for his national team. It is like he is racing Pepe who is 41 years old and still playing there as well.    Ronaldo's ambitious nature is really impressive even at this old age. He is hungry for bringing another European championship to his country before his retirement. The last and only Euro title achieved by Portugal was in the 2015/2016 season.

But what is your opinion on Portugal's chance to become champions this year?    I feel like teams such as France, England and Spain can cause Portugal a big trouble on this road.

They increased the number of teams from 16 to 24 from the 2016 tournament onwards. And this means that now there is a PQF round ahead of the Quarter-finals. Germany may qualify for the PQF stage, as it is not a very difficult task for them. But to proceed to the QF stage will be difficult. As of now, given their current form I am not expecting any miracles from Germany. I will be very surprised if they reach the semis. IMO, France and England have the maximum probability to win the Euro Cup this time.

I've seen no improvement with this current Germany squad, despite having brilliant players, they don't stand a chance to compete for major competitions. Germany was once regarded as Champs due to the great players present, and the coach was also a wonderful addition to such brilliant performance of Germany. Germany squad was on fire in the past decades when they won the world cup, the squad was massively dominated by incredible football pattern, they are always one step ahead of their opponents and they go straight to grab three points with stellar performance portrayed.

Well, even though the number of teams have increased, they cannot just make the group stage in a way that the big teams get eliminated right? They have to make the competition more interesting as well. So it is obviously a good decision for the authority to make the competition as competitive as possible. And I am also pretty sure that people also want that. Even though a lot of people want to see smaller teams prove themselves in the big stages, they certainly do not want a team that is not very much known for its capability to face a very big team in the semifinals. Because that has a chance to be one-sided.

I remember their performance at the 2014 World Cup, when they were champions and they scored 7 goals against Brazil in the semi-final of that tournament. Now some of the players from that squad are still playing for the German national team, but they are old now. They are not as good as they used to be at bringing in a new generation. They will undoubtedly have an advantage in this tournament because they are the hosts. But they need a lot more to be champions or to do well in this tournament because they are far from their good old days.

Being the host country was of course an advantage for Germany in group stage draw.    However they might still not end the group as the leader while there is a Scotland threat. Scotland had a really impressive qualifier performance. They even won against Spain once I mean. I'm wondering if they will manage to keep the same mentality in Euro 2024 as well. If they do so they can make big difficulties for Germany even in their home stadium. It will depend on how strong Germany we will see in this tournament too.

Because the good old Germany hasn't been around for a while. But for the sake of being the host country we could see much better performances.

It would be strange if Germany, as the number 1 seeded team, ended up in a difficult group. Since the number of groups was increased by 50% (from 4 to 6), half of the groups are extremely easy and such an event as a death group almost never occurs. Moreover, if you consider that not only the first two places get to the 1/8 finals, but also four teams that took third place in the groups, it turns out that the entire group stage is a farce.

I agree, Germany is at great position to go up, but that doesn't mean they have a chance to win, considering how much trouble they had, I believe that we are going to end up seeing them not do all that crazy to be fair, it looks like we are going to see them go up the group stages but then lose somewhere after, not going to win.

England and France has fairly easy opponents as well, they will go up easily and unless they face each other along the way, I feel like they do look like they could be the eventual winners as well. A finals between England and France would be watched a lot, the yare the two teams that are super strong and poised to win this title for sure. If they face each other quicker, then things may change.

I am not at all surprised by this outcome as far as the group looks, because you must know that the people from UEFA wanted to avoid Albania and Serbia, or Serbia and Croatia, being in the same group at all costs. Those would definitely be matches of the highest risk considering what happened in the Balkans 30+ years ago.

I personally like that Croatia will play Spain and Italy because it will be excellent duels and an opportunity for a rematch from the last European championship, when one of the most dramatic matches that I personally watched was played. I just hope that this time the Croatian players will not go to change their boots or to refresh themselves in the middle of the game, because the Spaniards certainly know how to punish that.

Croatia vs Spain (3-5) | Extended Highlights And Goals | Euro 2021

^^^ LOL.. Germany has been placed in the easiest possible group. Scotland did well during the qualifiers, but they are not considered as one of the strongest teams in UEFA. The other two teams (Hungary and Switzerland) in Group A doesn't have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stage. On the other hand, Group B is extremely tough with three very strong teams - Spain, Croatia and Italy. Still we don't have the complete picture yet, as the qualifying playoffs are not yet complete. There is a chance that teams like Iceland and Ukraine may qualify.

Taking a quick look at the Euro 2024 groups, I have a few observations:
* Group A doesn't offer much to discuss, as host Germany has a relatively easy group with Scotland, Hungary, and Switzerland. Despite Germany's current weaker version, given the home advantage, it shouldn't be too challenging for them to dominate this group.
* Group B is the group of death with the presence of defending champions Italy, Spain, Croatia, and underdog Albania. It's undoubtedly the most mentally challenging and intriguing group of the tournament. Spain might be the highest-rated team in this group with their current star-studded lineup. However, Croatia always proves to be a formidable opponent in major tournaments, even though their squad has aged. Italy, after their Euro 2020 triumph, is not to be underestimated. Albania, theoretically the weakest in the group, has shown potential in the qualifiers, posing a significant threat and potential surprises for the giants in this group.
* Group C is also interesting, with the star-studded England facing Denmark, Serbia, and Slovenia. Naturally, England is the highest-rated team expected to advance. However, Denmark is a formidable opponent with a lineup featuring stars from major tournaments. The playing styles of Denmark, along with Serbia and Slovenia, are considered tough and uncomfortable. It won't be easy for England's squad to dominate this group.
* Group D is seen as the second group of death with the presence of France and the Netherlands. France is rated higher than the Netherlands, considering their recent head-to-head performances. The Netherlands also has a good chance to advance as the remaining teams are Austria and a team from playoff branch A, likely to be Poland.
* Group E doesn't offer much to discuss with Belgium, a team that has passed its peak, facing Slovakia, Romania, and a playoff team from branch B.
* Lastly, Group F focuses on Portugal with Ronaldo. It shouldn't be too challenging for Ronaldo, in top form, and his teammates to surpass Czechia, Turkey, and a playoff team from branch C.

I would also say that Group B is the best, but also Group D with France and Holland are nice. But it has to be the same, actually all the games should be top games when I look at the ticket prices at the moment. In Germany, a game in the first few days of the European Championship is tradet at 350-600$. The opening game for around 800$ per ticket. The party is already starting and many people in Germany want to see the game live.